Rachel Faust and Maggie Livingstone teach physics at Marianopolis College. Their shared passion for teaching motivated them to learn how to do it better by getting together with other teachers to share best practices. This is the story of their grassroots collaboration to create a community of practice.

Since the end of January, as part of an overall plan to develop the CCDMD Online English Language Learning Centre, CCDMD has been actively seeking input from a variety of CEGEP professionals about their interest in and use of CCDMD resources. Being able to establish a clearer picture of who currently uses their resources and which resources, is critical to their future planning and development.

After this year of fruitful cooperation between colleges, Jennifer Mitchell adds yet another link to the community of practice that seems to be developing between pedagogical development offices. Information technology allows their resources to be used beyond the walls of individual colleges.

The time to write our last column of the year is upon us. As we did last year, we are taking this opportunity to thank you for your warm support. Through thick and thin, we know we can count on your participation, sharing your individual expertise and experience to build a group resource which each of us on the Animaweb team firmly believes in.

The CCDMD catalog is chock full of quality products at great prices that will bring year-round joy to your classroom, and for the right person might even make a great ‘seasonal’ gift. This column presents new products to pique your interest.

Do you know about the APOP_411 service? APOP’s management team explains this resource, which is available to all categories of stakeholders in the college network, to help integrate technology into schools. Statistics and examples of requests for service are presented. The availability of techno-experts as well as the many ways of accessing their services make this your first call in a techno-emergency!

Kelly La Venture and Becki George of Northland College Wisconsin presented a workshop on hybrid instruction at the recent Canadian International Conference on Education (CICE) at Cape Breton University in Sydney, Nova Scotia from June 16-19, 2014. After their workshop, in conversation with Profweb’s Norm Spatz, they elaborated on their motivation for creating and teaching hybrid classes. Kelly’s and Becki’s remarks are testimonials that providing flexible learning approaches builds contentment among students – helping Quebec college students master ICT profile skills.

In 2018, cell phones, tablets and computers combined with free applications or software give us the ability to create high quality video and broadcast it within moments. The internet gives us access to vast free video resources. Yet in spite of these technological innovations, students still consume digital media mostly passively in classroom settings. Three free online platforms allow you to create different types of video-based tasks that engage your students more actively.

The active learning methods have in common of placing the students in the middle of the learning process. Their teachers can then also think about giving them a role in the planning of the evaluation. Active learning is inspired by real-life contexts that are meaningful for the students, which can increase their level of motivation for the tasks that are suggested to them. It encourages durable learnings rather than using only their short-term memory.

Your Collegial Network Resources

ACPQ

The ACPQ (Association des collèges privés du Québec) is an umbrella organization for 25 college-level teaching establishments subsidized by MESRST. The ACPQ brings together teachers, administrators, and personnel of member colleges for pedagogical workshops that it organizes annually. It also manages support programs for research and international activities.

APOP

APOP meets the professional development needs of teaching personnel by offering online professional development and moderation activities. The purpose of these services is to support teaching personnel in their use of technology on the job. From an introduction to the features of a software application to the development of scripted teaching strategies, concepts are updated in terms of practices and emerging needs.

AQPC

The AQPC (Association québécoise de pédagogie collégiale) promotes the support and development of college educational mastery through gatherings and publications to foster the sharing of experience as well as the adoption of research results, pedagogical innovations and information technology. Among the AQPC’s activities is their annual symposium and the Pédagogie collégiale journal.

ARC

ARC (Association pour la recherche au collégial) works to promote research in college-level establishments. ARC is there to promote research and provide information to college network teachers who might wish to conduct research.

CCDMD

The Collegial Centre for Educational Materials Development (CCDMD) produces computer-based resources and printed documents for teachers and students of the Quebec college network. It has an impressive catalogue of educational materials and participates in a number of highly interesting projects for college teachers, including Netquiz Web, the World of Images collection as well as symposiums produced in tandem with the AQPC to improve teaching skills. The CCDMD works for you and with you!

CDC

The CDC (Centre de documentation collégiale) is the only unique library focusing on college education. The CDC has a mandate to serve francophone and anglophone Cegeps, both public and private, across Quebec. Its collection has been developed specifically to meet the information needs of teachers, professionals, managers, researchers and future teachers of the college network.

Cégep à distance

Cégep à distance is a college dedicated to distance learning. It hosts a diverse student population with a significant student population referred from within the college network. By the very nature of its courses, the Cégep à distance is at the avant-garde of technology. It makes much of the teaching material that it designs available to teachers in the Quebec college network.

DECCLIC

The corporation Plateforme collégiale DECclic hosts and maintains the Moodle environment along with other related services. It also moderates the DECclic community with online help, professional development, and network activities.

IT Rep

The IT Rep/REPTIC Network is a community practice of pedagogical counsellors responsible for the integration of ICTs into Quebec colleges. IT Reps work with teachers at their school to support the pedagogical integration of ICTs. The IT Rep also ensures that the resources of ICT partners have concrete benefits in their setting.

Performa

Performa is a partner dedicated to the professional development and training of ICT savvy teachers. Performa brings together a faculty of the Université de Sherbrooke and 61 college-level institutions. Performa provides access to accredited professional development activities specifically adapted to the needs of college network teachers.

Profweb

Profweb shares inspiring teaching practices in addition to providing articles on educational and digital news from the Quebec college network. Profweb also promotes digital resources related to teaching and learning in colleges and offers a calendar of events. Finally, Profweb offers college teachers a free web hosting environment for their educational projects.

VTÉ

The mission of Vitrine Technologie-Éducation (VTÉ) is to promote and support integration of technology into postsecondary education. The VTÉ is recognized for its technology watch activities, whose results are relayed to the entire network. The VTÉ also disseminates pedagogical resources through means of its rich and comprehensive CERES catalogue—a veritable treasure chest!

Subscribe to our newsletter

Each week, get inspired by innovative educational planning, discover new digital resources coming onto the market and discover the activities in colleges throughout Quebec. Profweb’s newsletter is the only newsletter that tells you what’s happening in technology across the Quebec college network!